Barely hours to the gubernatorial and house of assembly elections in the country, a high court sitting in Calabar, Cross River State, on Tuesday, insisted that the removal of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidates for the election in Cross River State was a settled matter.
The high court, presided over by Justice Eyo Ita, in a suit brought before it by an aggrieved APC governorship aspirant, Mr. Ukpan Odey, said since the reliefs sought by the plaintiff were the same as that which a federal high court had already ruled on, it could not rule on them again.
The Federal High Court, Abuja, had on February 11, in suit FHC/CA/CS/73/2018, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to delist all the names of candidates of the APC in the state from the 2019 elections.
Affirming that the ruling stands, Justice Ita directed “that All Progressives Congress, the first respondent herein, is obliged to apply and obey its constitution and guidelines and their prayer No. 2 was decided in suit FHC/CA/CS/73/2018 on 11/2/2019 and is res judicatory.”
On plaintiff’s prayer No. 3, the court held that “Prayer N0.3 was decided in Suit N0: FHC/CA/CS/73/2018, and following that decision, INEC, 2ND defendant herein, has removed the names of all candidates forwarded to the INEC by the APC as a product of the primaries from its ballot papers. Prayers N0.4 & 5 in this case were granted in suit No: FHC/CA/CS/73/2018. INEC has removed those names from its ballot papers.
Speaking with newsmen shortly after the judgment, counsel to claimant, A .U Bukar, an aspirant under APC, John Ukpan Odey, said he was happy with the decision of the court following the fact that a Federal High sitting in Abuja had already given an order on the matter.